Waffle House

Waffle House Hash Brown Terminology A few things you should know about me and Waffle House:

  • I only know about Waffle House because of Homestar Runner.
  • The closest Waffle House to me is 30 miles away in Dumfries, Virginia, so I don’t get to eat at Waffle House much, which makes it a momentous event when I do.
  • There is a specific terminology for ordering hash browns with toppings. My preference is “Smothered, Covered, Peppered, Capped.”
  • You can get a bowl of grits with cheese, eggs, and ground sausage on top. With the hash browns and coffee it’s a complete breakfast.

Sausage egg and cheese grits

This particular Waflle House was really just a stopover on our Saturday trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Corpse Flower and Circles

We visited the Botanic Gardens on Sunday in hopes of seeing (and smelling) the famous Titan Arum “corpse flower”. Too late, alas, the flower had wilted and no offensive odors were to be had.

Wilted corpse flower

We also ate some grilled bison and salmon with wild rice and orange beets with fennel at Mitsitam Cafe and on the way in to the NMAI I got this photo of the dome:

Dome, Smithsonian NMAI

Nothing I haven’t seen before on countless visits to that museum, but I love those circles.

Caturday!

Martha and Amelia are coming up on ten months of age now. They’re huge compared to when we first got them, and still growing, but cuddly and adorable as always. Pictures follow:

Martha and Amelia kittens
Amelia Kitten yawns and stretches Amelia Kitten peeks out from under my laundry pile
Kittens on bed
Martha Kitten peeking out the window Martha Kitten
Amelia and Martha Kittens

Chincoteague Again

I stayed on Chincoteague Island back in April for the NASA Social Antares launch event, but didn’t really get to see as much of the scenery as I’d have liked. This summer Amy and I hopped back over to get the full summer beach-and-pony experience for a few days — and break in the new car with a nice trip to the shore.

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New Work, New Car

Been about four months now since I left US News, but it hasn’t been all unemployment; I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Tac and Keith on Survos, plus a few other small projects on the side to help make ends meet through the job search.

Quote from Whitman's "The Wound Dresser," Dupont Circle Metro

This week, however, I return to fulltime work with Valador, Inc., doing front end web design for federal government agencies, mostly NASA. I’m passionate about both web design and space, so the professional mix is a dream come true. Also, the office has a classic Doctor Who pinball machine.

Continue reading New Work, New Car

Recent Reading

Remembering James Gandolfini.

The Prophets of Oak Ridge: three peace activists infiltrate a heavily guarded nuclear weapons facility. (by Dan Zak)

1 billion year old water tastes terrible.

US infrastructure is ill-suited to meeting the needs of an isolated, aging population.

The fragmented and nonlinear reading styles of the 14th Century resemble in some ways the way we read on the internet.

Coffeehouses were the social media of the 1600s.

Mobile telephones of 1910.

Saving Superman’s Jewish immigrant creators, Siegel and Shuster.

Open office layouts aren’t great.

Lessons learned from volunteering in prison.

When adult children move back in.

Why Android hates you.